1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a system and method for monitoring and/or controlling electrodeposition coating of metallic workpieces, and, more specifically, to a system and method for forming an accurate one-pass coating.
2. Description of Related Art
Previous attempts to check for inefficient electrode placement or the death of electrodes involved workpiece inspection. Such checking was based on the assumption that all of the electrodes had the same life cycle, so all electrodes were replaced simultaneously. Further, since the characteristics of the system were not directly monitored, excess paint was typically applied to ensure a sufficient coating. This resulted in increased materials cost, increased manufacturing time and typically less than optimal, i.e., too thick, coatings.
Such a routine is clearly laborious, does not allow the correction of the voltage applied to the electrodes during deposition, does not allow individual electrodes to be monitored or easy assessment of the positioning of the electrodes relative to the workpieces.